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so, where was i
its been almost 2 months so things must have gotten better, right?
no
fuck no
so, when i left off, the new italian "owner" had just taken over and fired everyone, only to find out he hasn't really taken over anything yet, and all parties were hired back
prospective new owners have to pass a "fit and proper" test by the football league (the FL)
the head of the FL, just so happens to be the former right hand man of the crooked POS that use to own the club (a guy who once said he would make it his life goal to destroy leeds united, before he purchased the team and destroyed the club). so he's the main guy, the rest of the board that decided his fate was made up of the owners of all the other teams, their rivals who wouldn't want to see the club succeed.
ok, so once the current owners (the arabs) decided they were going to sell the club back in november, they decided that they no longer had to pay any of the bills (players wages, utility bills, vendor bills, the company that was in the middle of installing new fields in the teams practice facility, everything) they haven't spent on dollar on the team in 5 months. they took out loans in the teams name to cover some costs in november and december. then they got prospective owner #1 (the non italian) to pay the bills for january, before that bid collapsed. since early feb. the italian has been pay all the bills, and paid off all the vendors and anyone else that was owed money, even though he wasn't officially the owner yet.
The FL, delayed and delayed and then delayed some more, their decision on whether the italian was "fit and proper", even though they had cleared well known mobs types and rapists within a matter of days in the past 2 years.
finally, the italian wised up after over a month of paying the bills and still not passing the test.
then it came out in the italian media that he was about to go to court on tax evasion charges stemming from a boat he bought in the US, through a US company (the italian lives in the US BTW). the italian courts said that since he was italian, that he owed an import tax to the italians, on the boat
he lost the court case, was fined a half million bucks, and the boat was impounded
two days later, the FL finally stepped up and failed him. blocking the sale
in the last 2 months, the italian has spent somewhere between 6 ans 12 million pounds keeping the club afloat. also due back is the 25 million that he had already given the club for the purchase of the team. so the guy is due 30-40 million pounds, from an arab banking company that doesn't have a pot to piss in, and now the players are on the verge of not getting paid for this month
meanwhile, on the pitch, the team went from being on the verge of the playoffs and promotion, to fighting to even stay up in the league they're in
so, its still mass chaos, and the team is now in danger of going into bankruptcy (called administration over there), where the FL takes over the clubs and sells off all assets (the player) in order to pay the bills. they also hit the club with a large point deduction that could send the club down to a lower league and cripple the club further for years to come
so yeah